wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] OneByOne speaker's topic is sexual addition

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Note #7762 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

OneByOne speaker's topic is sexual addition
GA03073

OneByOne speaker's topic is sexual addition

by Emily Enders Odom

DENVER, May 27 - "False Intimacy: Sexual Addiction within the Church" was the
topic of Dr. Harry W. Schaumburg at the OneByOne Dinner Tuesday evening.

	Schaumburg, a professional therapist, is executive director of Stone
Gate Resources, a "ministry of reconciliation" and counseling headquartered
in Larkspur, CO. In his 45-minute lecture, he told his audience of about 75
people what sexual addiction is, why there is a problem, and how he believes
it should be dealt with.

	After 20 years of experience, he said, "I'm convinced that the
problem is a lordship problem."

	"The issue in terms of sexual addiction is really a spiritual issue
in the church, and the issue is the Lordship of Christ," he said, adding:
"Have we lost a sincere and pure devotion to Christ? Because that's what's
really going on."

Overcoming sexual addiction is only possible, Schaumburg said, for people who
confess that Jesus is Lord, in accordance with Romans 10.

	Because the potential for sexual addiction "is in each and every one
of our hearts," he said, every Christian must know what to do about it. "If
it wasn't for God's grace, we'd be sitting in the same place," he said.

	For that reason, he added, "The Church needs to be the primary place
of ministry," and people in the church have a responsibility and an
"immediate obligation" to be channels of grace in the process of
transformation and restoration.

	Schaumburg's remarks were preceded by frank testimony from a PC(USA)
pastor about his lifelong struggle to overcome an addiction to pornography.

	Describing the secrecy and compulsiveness that characterized his
addiction - and the self-contempt that resulted - he spoke of the healing
power of Christ that helped him overcome his "demons."

	Tim Fearer, a OneByOne board member, had said earlier: "At OneByOne,
we're into change. We're into being transformed by the renewing of our minds
and by the healing of our hearts - whether you're heterosexual, homosexual,
bisexual, whatever. And we are into educating and equipping the church to
minister that transforming grace to help people."

	OneByOne is a ministry funded by PC(USA) churches and members that
addresses the need of people in conflict with their sexuality.

	

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